


Runaways and Returns

by Thesuspiciousflyingjellyfish



Series: Shameless Stark AU [2]
Category: A Song of Ice and Fire - George R. R. Martin, Final Fantasy XV, Game of Thrones (TV)
Genre: Hey look a wild Nyx is mentioned, House Stark Family Feels (ASoIaF), Multi, Sibling Arguments
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-23
Updated: 2020-12-23
Packaged: 2021-03-10 23:34:28
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,954
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28255491
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Thesuspiciousflyingjellyfish/pseuds/Thesuspiciousflyingjellyfish
Summary: Robb remembers the first time Sansa ran away.
Relationships: Sansa Stark & Robb Stark, Sansa Stark/Nyx Ulric
Series: Shameless Stark AU [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2068332
Comments: 4
Kudos: 7





	Runaways and Returns

Robb will admit that when Sansa first ran away, when he was twelve, he was absolutely terrified. Not to say that all the other times after that he wasn’t, but the first had his heart gripped in a fist ofpure fear, not knowing where she went. Sansa was always someone he could rely on, the first person he would go to, even before his parents. She was there, always.

And then she wasn’t.

He was getting up from bed to get something to drink. It was around past midnight, and he noticed the girl’s room door open. It was never open when they slept. His heart leapt, thinking someone broke in without them knowing, and he grabbed the first thing in reach.

The family trusty baseball bat.

He slammed the door open wider, hoping that it would take the intruder by surprise, long enough for Robb to beat the shit out of them. But instead, all he got was Arya waking up in a panic, and an empty space next to her in the girl’s shared bed.

Sansa was gone.

Gripping the bat tightly, he rushed throughout the house, his parents room was empty, most likely both working night shifts. The kitchen was empty too. The bathrooms. The living room. Laundry room. All empty.

Racing back up to the girl’s room, breathless and head spinning with sheer terror, he made eye contact with Arya, now holding the other two close and staring up at him with confusion and growing panic. Robb had cast a searching look around the room, hoping for some clues on Sansa’s whereabouts.

And he got it.

Her bag, her favourite bag, was gone. Along with her stuff dog, Lady, and the dresser draws were still open a tad. Ribbing them out of their slots, he noticed clothes missing, and remembered that they did laundry earlier today, so it shouldn’t be.

She had ran away.

His lips wobbled, and Robb could feel tears and betrayal flooding out of him. ‘ _Why would she leave!? Where would she even go?!_ ’

In the end, he figured it would be the bus stops he would check first, and then the train station. Bundling the younger children as warm as possible, he wrapped little two year old brother in a large sash and strapped him to his back. And then with Arya in one hand, and Bran in the other, he marched them out into the cold, October air, filled with fear and desperate strength.

His parents always told him and Sansa that the youngest were never allowed to be left alone, so Robb had to take them with him.

Rickon slept throughout the entire search, with Bran and Arya diligently stumbling after him, bodies and minds tired with exercise they weren’t used to. Years from now, Bran would barely be able to recall this journey, but Arya never forgot.

He had found Sansa, after two hours of searching, panic never abating in his chest and mind whirling with unsettling possibilities and fear that she had already hopped on a train to who-knows-where. Robb had found her curled up under the overhead train tracks, clutching her back pack to her chest. Her entire frame was shaking, from either the cold or from crying. Robb thought both.

He had the two youngest sit a few feet away, wanting to talk to Sansa without them hearing but still within eye sight. Steps crunching on frosted grass, he approached her, softly calling her name, a train roaring above their heads.

Robb would remember that look in her eyes, as it was the first time he ever saw such a broken and guilt ridden expression on his big sister’s face. He had always thought her so strong, as she never complained about the work load, and was diligent in her tasks of keeping them alive and well whilst their parents weren’t there. She always put on a brave face.

And there she was, red-rimmed, puffy eyes, weeping her heart out.

“I couldn’t do it.” She mumbled it into her hands, as if ashamed by the fact that she couldn’t run from her family.

Fists clenched, Robb crouched down and whispered to her, hand out stretched, “We will talk about this after the other’s are back home and asleep. Now get the fuck up, Sansa.” She took it, not looking him in the eye.

It wasn’t kind. She didn’t deserve kind at this moment in his mind. She was packed and ready to abandon them. And even then, she couldn’t even go through with it. Robb never truly understood why she ran that day. Didn’t fully understand until after the dozen times she had tried again.

It was the fallout of her latest and last one that had him understanding.

“ _I NEVER ASKED TO BE YOUR MOTHER! I NEVER ASKED FOR THIS BURDEN OF TAKING CARE OF YOU ALL! I’M NOT YOUR MOTHER, I AM YOUR SISTER AND I NEVER ASKED FOR THIS!_ ” She had screamed over his yells of accusations, needing to be heard.

In his anger he had violently lashed out, striking her across the face with his fist. After a stunned moment, she retaliated, tackling him to the ground with a raging cry. Knees in chest’s, hands in hair, they spat and yelled vitriol and violence at one another, words after angry words streaming out of their mouths, Robb never able to recall what he had said that night. His mind was in a red haze as they tumbled and slammed into furniture, only distantly hearing the cries of Rickon at all the loud noises.

Instinctively, Sansa had stopped fighting at the sound of their littlest sibling’s wails, going limp under him. Her eyes were a vibrant, feverish blue, cheeks flushed red, and panting from exertion and emotional pain.

He had stared her down, equally heavy of breath, watching her lips tremble with overwhelmed emotions, and saw how her eyes slid from his to the direction of their siblings. Her breath had hitched, and he followed her line of sight with dread.

They stared at Robb and Sansa with fright, a look of horror painted plainly on their young faces. As if they didn’t know their older siblings were. And that cut through Robb like a knife. Releasing Sansa’s wrists and climbing off from where he sat on her chest, Robb let her crawl out from under him, and watched as she hesitantly approached the children.

He held back tears, guilt flooding him, as Arya tightened her embrace on Rickon, as if afraid Sansa would hurt him. And seeing how she had paused in her tracks, a wounded noise slipping past her lips, Sansa saw that too.

“ _I’m sorry._ ” She had whispered. To him. To Rickon. To all of them.

Rubbing at her eyes, she had continued, “You guys aren’t burdens. I wasn’t running away to get from you. I _just_ -“ The pause left a heavy weight in the air, Robb practically holding his breath for whatever her next words might be.

“I just wanted mom and dad to even notice me gone. Wanted them to _notice me._ ” Choked sobs hitched out of her mouth and she covered it with both hands, crumbing to the ground at the bottom of the steps. She had knelt before the three of them and her words were wrecked and ridden with regret and shame. “I’m so sorry for leaving you! I _love you_ so much, I _never_ want to leave you all!”

Robb had crawled across the floor, minding the shattered cup glass, to tug his sister into a firm embrace.

Pressing a kiss into her messy red hair, he whispered with a hoarse throat, “I’m sorry that you have all this shitty responsibility on your shoulders. It isn’t fair on you.”

“It isn’t fair on any of us.” Arya had whispered, the eldest two looking up at her, eyes soft and sad. And then she got up, creeping down the stairs with Bran following a second after. Handing over a sniffling Rickon, Sansa gratefully took hold of him and began to softly sing to calm him down, taking comfort in being able to comfort him.

Robb had then opened up one arm and the other two desperately hurried forward, snuggling in close, clinging tightly to one another.

He remembered thinking at the time that they were a broken family. Absent parents. Having a mother in a sister. A brother that had to constantly pick up the pieces. And three kids, who didn't understand why their parents were never around. Why they had to work all the time. Why they shouldn’t refer to Sansa as mom and Robb as dad. They were broken.

But looking at them all now, six years later, he figured that they were more cracked and chipped edges, then truly shattered. Metaphorical duck tape holding them all together. He was proud at how Sansa had slowly moved past the constant urge to run away, knowing that she didn’t truly want to leave them. Just to leave the life that was forced upon her.

Instead, she grew into a young woman that was desperately searching for some kind of romance, in some of the worst people possible.

“ _Why did you say yes!?_ ” Robb yelled, throwing his hands up in the air in, almost unhinged with his sister’s new life decision.

She looked equally hysterical, practically tearing out her hair in ashamed aggravation, she wailed back. “I don’t _know_!”

Slapping his hands to his face he groaned, “You’re _useless_ when it comes to dating, Sansa! You pick the _worst people!_ ” He could name on both hands all the fucked up exes she has had, and then need more fingers to continue down the list.

She drew back though, affronted, and then laughed in deranged disbelief. “Oh _hoh_! You want to go there?” Jabbing her finger into his chest she growled, “Says you who _knocked up his girlfriend_ but is banging his _best friend_ on the side!”

His cheeks flooded with red, and batted her hand away, “At least I’m not fucking the guy who _stole our car!_ ”

With a cry of frustration she threw her own hands up, “ _I haven’t even fucked him yet!_ ”

Grabbing at his face, he cried out desperately, “Why did you say _yet!?_ ”

Arya then came stomping down the stairs having them pause in their screaming match, her school bag tossed over her shoulder, with the boys following close behind. All three were ready and dressed, and Sansa was still in her pyjamas and hadn’t even made breakfast yet. But before she could open her mouth, Arya just rolled her eyes.

“While you two scream about who is the worst in a relationship, we are going to school.”

“But-“ Sansa began, however Arya steamrolled over her words.

“We will just steal some breakfast and lunch, no problem.” And with that, the grungy teen ushered Bran and Rickon out the door. Robb and Sansa stared at the closed front door in disbelief, absently hearing Rickon remark, “Hey! The car’s back!”

The silence was awkward, and Robb was the first to break it, scratching at his head. “Did you at least get his _name_?”

She rolled her eyes back at him derisively, as if she hadn’t fucked people without knowing their names before. “Nyx Ulric.”

Frowning, he asked, “‘ _Ulric_ ’? As in the fucking gypsies that live by the park on 12th?” Eyebrows flying up in disbelief.

Sansa sniffed delicately, hands on hips, “Gypsies is derogative, they prefer Romani.” She said matter-of-factly.

He rubbed angrily at his face and muttered, “Our entire neighbourhood is derogative, Sansa. We are white trash living in the ghetto.”

Snorting, she punched his shoulder, “Oh fuck off and get to work, pig.”

**Author's Note:**

> Don’t hate on Sansa for her reactions and decisions. The eldest sister is not a third parent and should never be treated that way. She just wants freedom to make her own life without having to do work that she wasn’t meant to do. If you have kids, they are your responsibility to care and look after, not the eldest children. Yes, in this case the parents do care and are trying to provide a good life for the kids, but sometimes, just the parents being there and actually showing their kids they love them instead of just providing money is the better option. Sansa, along with the other kids, are living rough, and Sansa especially knew what it was like before money became a problem, so she is finding all this responsibility too much, which is understandable. 
> 
> Robb is trying. He is a younger brother, but still an eldest one, and takes up the responsibility that Sansa can’t do, which in this case is making plans and choices Sansa can’t do or couldn’t think up of in the moment. In the first part, you saw him taking charge of a situation, and that is his main role. Sansa is in charge of everything that is planned, but when shit goes tits up, he takes the leadership role. He is also Sansa’s emotional support, cause she is everyone else’s, and needs someone. They are co-dependant, but that wouldn’t be unusual for siblings in this life style.
> 
> Okay im all done. Thank you for reading!


End file.
